Known fuel burning apparatus utilize various fuels such as alcohols, kerosene, and other petroleum products in either liquid state and/or vapor (“vapor” also referred to herein as “gas”) states. For example, portable camp stoves and heaters commonly utilize kerosene, which in its ambient temperature, unpressurized form is a liquid state fuel. Kerosene and other known liquid state fuels are volatile, flammable, explosive, and sometimes corrosive, making their transport, handling, and use inherently dangerous to a user and the surrounding environment.
In another example, stoves, furnaces, and other combustion apparatus are known to utilize gas state fuels such as propane, butane, isobutane, and the like. For example, propane is provided as a pressurized liquid that converts to gas upon release of pressure from the tank, such as by opening a valve in a supply line to a connected stove or heater. Liquid fuels and pressurized gas fuels are subject to safety, health, and other regulatory restrictions as a result of their flammable, volatile, explosive, corrosive, and other undesirable properties. The inherent properties of known liquid state and gas state fuels present serious challenges in storage, transportation, and use. Commercial transportation of such fuels is highly regulated and restricted, requiring special permits and compliance with health and safety laws, regulations, and procedures, such as HAZMAT, environmental, and Homeland Security, for example. Recreational storage, transportation, and use of known liquid and gas fuels can be just as dangerous, and just as challenging, especially for consumers such as hikers and campers who need to travel through commercial governmentally regulated means such as airlines, trains, ships, and even tunnels. For example, hikers who are traveling to remote locations by air, with few exceptions, cannot carry pressurized propane tanks or liquid fuel for their camp stoves. They must rely upon the availability of such fuels at their ground destination—which may not be available depending upon the location and nature of the destination. Additionally, transport and use of pressurized gas and/or liquid fuel by campers, military personnel, or other users presents a real risk of harm by spillage and/or leakage that can result in severe personal injury whether by flame, explosion, ordinance, or combination thereof. For example, liquid fuel famine relief stoves known as “panda stoves” have been banned from importation into Africa because of the proliferation of fires resulting from kerosene liquid fuel spillage, as well injuries resulting from the design of such stoves. The irony of injuring a starving person or burning down their home by providing a dangerous stove is not lost on the author. Neither is the irony of a soldier surviving combat conditions only to find that his liquid fuel leaked and that he has none left for heat to survive the night. We have a solution, as described herein.